Masazumi Chaya

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Interview - “If You Can Walk, You Can Dance”: Inside the Whitney Museum’s Alvin Ailey Retrospective

Interview - “If You Can Walk, You Can Dance”: Inside the Whitney Museum’s Alvin Ailey Retrospective

In 1949, as legend has it, Alvin Ailey, then a young gymnast, followed school buddy and fellow future dance icon Carmen de Lavallade to the famed Lester Horton “Dance Theater” on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. It was a simple gesture that would lay the groundwork for the future of American concert dance. After Horton’s unexpected death, Ailey took over the Horton company for a while before starting the eponymous Alvin Ailey Company in New York, forming a beautiful, long and deeply intersectional lineage that incorporated dance, art, and innumerable interconnected histories culminating in the very first exhibit of the archival record of the Alvin Ailey Company, a show five years in the making and currently on view at The Whitney Museum of American Art.

The Star-Ledger - Duking It Out At NJPAC

The Star-Ledger - Duking It Out At NJPAC

As the associate artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, which returns to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark this weekend, Masazumi Chaya can drop into the studio anytime and watch any rehearsal he pleases.

Outbound Magazine - Masazumi Chaya: Pointe Man

Outbound Magazine - Masazumi Chaya: Pointe Man

Masazumi Chaya was expected to follow his parents' footsteps in medicine but was drawn to theater. After graduating from high school, he worked as a dresser for film and TV star ferry Ito, who encouraged him to study singing, acting, and dance.

The New York Times - With Willing Spirit, A Reprise For Ailey Dancers

The New York Times - With Willing Spirit, A Reprise For Ailey Dancers

The voice on the phone belonged to Masazumi Chaya, the associate artistic director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and he had a startling proposition. Would she - Elizabeth Roxas-Dobrish, 55 years old, former Ailey superstar and current artificial-hip owner - come out of retirement to dance at a special performance on New Year's Eve?

The New York Times - Toasts Of the Season

Dec. 1: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater celebrated 50 years of its signature work, "Revelations," and Joan H. Weill's 10th anniversary as board chairwoman.

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